As we recover from the Frankfurt Book Fair and look towards the festival season,
there’s plenty of news to report. With recent and forthcoming events across the
globe – from Réunion Island to England via Spain – and a host of new releases,
it’s been another busy season.
'I See The Promised Land' is a graphic novel narrating the life of Martin Luther King. This extraordinary telling is replete with destiny, the will of gods, fate and the human condition. African-American writer and griot, bard and blues singer Arthur Flowers does the telling, while Patua artist Manu Chitrakar adapts King’s life to the colour and vivid grammar of his art.
A spectacular pop-up number book by Marion Bataille, author of the best-selling 'ABC3D'. In '10', she experiments with the shape of numbers and explores the pleasure of constructing and counting them, one to ten and back again. Imaginative and sophisticated, this superbly made object plays with the architecture of book making.
I Like Cats By Anushka Ravishankar & Various Artists
The book which delighted you in the offset version before is now ready to be relished in the handmade version. Fat cats, brat cats, hurried cats, worried cats, cats with scowls and cats with jowls – silkscreen-printed by hand this is a book sure to delight art lovers, cat lovers and artsy cat lovers! The book comes with a framable art print of a cat.
The Circle of FateBy Raja Mohanty, Sirish Rao & Radhashyam Raut[2nd edition]
A new and accessible take on a timeless Hindu parable of destiny and love, illustrated in the delicate and ornamental Patachitra tradition of Orissa, in eastern India. It has been printed and bound by hand at Tara Books’ award-winning bookmaking workshop. Both a collector’s item and an ideal gift for those interested in Indian culture, myth, religion and folk arts.
NEWS & EVENTS
Frankfurt Book fair
In our 16th year at this important international book fair, we were delighted to meet old friends, and get to know new publishing partners. Brazil, since last year, has been a favourite Tara rights partner country, and the trend continues. Our highlights this year were a spectacular new handmade book of Mithila art called Water Life, as well as I See the Promised Land, the first of our new graphic novel series with Patua scroll artist Manu Chitrakar and the African-American griot and writer Arthur Flowers.
Réunion Island Welcomes Gond Artist
Veteran Tara author and illustrator Bhajju Shyam was invited to participate in the the 4th Children’s Book Fair of Indian Ocean [October 4-10, 2010] as Tara’s The Flight of the Mermaid has been chosen among selected few titles to compete for the book fair’s "Paille en Queue" prize. Bhajju’s artworks are also displayed in the Beatrice Binoche Gallery, Réunion Island between October 6th -15th.
IBBY Congress
Publisher Gita Wolf was invited to give a keynote address at the biennial congress of the International Board on Books for Young People, held in Spain last month. Speaking on the theme of The Strength of Minorities and its relevance to Tara’s work with Indian folk and tribal artists, she was taken aback by the tremendous resonance the talk received from a truly worldwide audience. An edited version of her address is now available here.
IBBY Honours List
Two Tara titles were included in the prestigious International Board on Books for Young People Illustration Honours List this year: Marion Bataille’s unusual pop-up book ABC3D and That’s How I See Things, for its striking art work by Bhajju Shyam.
The Hindu's Best Fiction Award
We were delighted to discover last week that Daisy Hasan’s The To-Let House had been shortlisted for The Hindu’s ‘Best Fiction Award 2010’. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Chennai at the beginning of next month, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed until then.
Daisy Hasan will also be at the festival, launching her debut novel The To-Let House
to an audience in London on the 23rd. On the 27th she will be participating in a
group discussion with other writers from the South Asian diaspora in Brighton.
Holiday Gifts!
Once again this year, send your friends Tara books wrapped specially in our unique
screen printed gift paper. When you buy off our website, just mention “gift wrapped”
in the ‘Comments’ section, and leave the rest to us. Look out for special offers for
the season on our website.
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